


The Things We Do For Love

by I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own



Series: Apples and Ambrosia [7]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: I am thinking about this now..., I mean can it even be called suicide when he's gonna come back anyway?, Immortal Alec Lightwood, Temporary Character Death, suicide by like for strategic reasons?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 21:44:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14962752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own/pseuds/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own
Summary: Floki is not responsible for Alec's life choices, Alec meets his patrons, and Magnus needs a hug





	The Things We Do For Love

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not happy with the end of this one, but I can't figure out to to make it not annoy me!?

“When this is over, please remind your lover that I am not responsible for your life choices.” Floki tells him, with narrowed eyes.

“Right.” Alec replies, smiling. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. Besides, I already told Jace that I was doing a ritual and he’d feel the connection break, so he won’t be calling Magnus in a panic.”

“Right. Just again, not responsible for your life choices. Drink up.” Floki says, handing over a small bowl. Alec hums and drinks the entire contents of the bowl, making faces as he does.

“Nasty.”

“It’s called the Elixir of Potent Half Death, what did you expect?” Floki exclaims, taking the bowl back, shaking his head. “Honestly.”

“Right, and I won’t _actually_ die, right? I’m just, popping in for a chat?”

“Oh, you’ll _actually_ die. I thought we already covered this? The elixir will stop your heart, you’ll have an hour or two to chat with your godly buddies, and then the elixir will restart your heart. So, yes, you’ll most definitely be dead.” Floki tells him, laughing.

“Oh, Magnus is going to murder me.”

“Yes, exactly. I’ll say again, I’m not responsible for your stupid life choices. Have fun.” Floki says, rolling his eyes when Alec drops like a stone. “Perhaps I should have told him to sit down first?” Floki asks the empty air as he uses his magic to deposit Alec on the couch. “Well, my work here is done.”

* * *

Alec wakes in the blackness, his head pounding, he takes his time getting to his feet, flinching away from the light when it appears in front of him, this time there are five chairs at the table. He frowns at them, before pulling out the nearest chair and sinking into it.

“Alexander, honestly!” he hears Hel’s familiar voice exclaim, and he gives her a guilty grin as she appears in the chair opposite him.

“Sorry, but I needed to confirm some things with you.” He tells her, wilting under her disappointed glare.

“This is not a game, you can’t just kill yourself to escape here whenever you please, we do have day jobs, you know, even as boring as they are. But at least the Norns, and the Fates, aren’t having to reweave your story this time, good choice on the Elixir.” She tells him, allowing a smile to form on her face, though it still appears a grimace on her dead side. “Today we are waiting on three.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Alec says, looking at the other empty chairs. “Who?”

“Persephone, of course, and your Patrons.”

“Oh. Really?” he asks, surprised. “I figured, since I’m dead that only the death gods could interact with me?”

“Oh, no. This isn’t the afterlife, this is… an In Between, it’s what I think you humans call limbo? This place belongs to neither the dead, nor the living, so the others may come and go as they please.”

“Is there someway I can speak with you without having to kill myself?” Alec asks, raising an eyebrow, Hel smirks.

“No. If we want to speak with you, we’ll come find you. Persephone did tell you to keep a diary, darling.” Hel says, Alec sighs and rolls his eyes.

“Of course.” He looks up when he hears arguing and watches Persephone serenely walking towards them, ignoring the two beautiful ladies arguing behind her.

“Hel, Alexander.” Persephone greets, sinking down in the chair beside Hel. “Thought it would be a little while before we spoke again, Alexander, but at least you’re not getting on the Fates, or the Norns, bad side by making their job harder.”

“Thank you, I do try not to be an inconsiderate ass.” Alec replies, smiling at her, though his attention keeps being drawn back to the two ladies standing half in the darkness, still arguing in two separate languages, neither of which Alec speaks. “What’s wrong with them?”

“Oh, they can’t figure out if they want to smack you one for the mess you made of your proposal, or if they want to congratulate you on finally taking the plunge, additionally, only one of them can preside over your wedding.” Persephone answers, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s a non-issue, really, like they both won’t preside together over any children you and Magnus have, and they’ll have to trade out for anniversaries, anyway.”

“Whoa, we only _just_ got engaged, we’re not ready for the children discussion yet.”

“No, definitely not. But someday you will be, and you’ve got two lovely ladies circling around the both of you ready to become godparents.” Hel says, smirking at him.

“Literal godparents, wow.” Alec replies, laughing. “Well, guess our kids will have two dads, and two godmothers.”

“Indeed.” Persephone says, before throwing a ball of hellfire at the two arguing love goddesses, causing both to shriek and leap out of the way.

“Persephone!”

“Alexander only has a limited amount of time here, and you are wasting it with your incessant arguing. You already know it will be Aphrodite who presides over the wedding, Freya. She’s the first person who ever made Magnus feel love, and she’s the one who suggested tying Alec into Yggdrasil, so on the scale, she’s ahead of you.” Persephone snaps, before snapping her fingers and pointing at the two empty chairs. “Now sit down and shut up.”

“Fine.” Both deities grumble, making their way to their seats, glaring at each other the entire time.

“Uhm, well, I wasn’t actually expecting to see either of you, but thank you for what you did for me.” Alec starts, looking first at Aphrodite, then at Freya, only able to tell them apart by the golden futhark runes glowing on Freya’s visible skin. “And for what you did for Magnus.” Alec says, looking only at Aphrodite now, she smiles at him.

“All beings need love, Alexander. Without love, there could not be life. Even your demons feel love, granted, you wouldn’t understand it, but they feel it.” Aphrodite tells him, Alec nods his head in understanding.

“Still, thank you.” He says again, before clearing his throat. “Right, you know I’ve found the Rune of Tethering, will it work how I think it will work? Will it tie Magnus’ life to mine until life ends?”

“Yes.” Hel answers, smiling.

“Will he die if I die?”

“Yes and no.” Persephone is the one who answers this time, holding her hand out in front of her and wobbling it side to side in the universal symbol of so-so. “If you tether to him, and he to you, you won’t share your deaths until after _his_ first death. After that, the Fates, and the Norns, will weave your threads together, they will measure them together, and cut them together, and then they will start again.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Freya says, sighing heavily and draping herself over the table, resting her face on the cool surface, the way Izzy does when she’s done with Alec’s idiocy. “he’s still immortal, in the most basic sense. Until he dies for the first time, his life is still his own. Yes, he’ll be tethered to you, but remove you from the equation, and he’ll carry on living so long as he doesn’t die. After he dies, without your tether, he’s just dead, his thread is cut, there’s nothing else.”  

“Will I die if he dies?” Alec asks, isn’t sure how to feel about the question, doesn’t know if he wants the answer.

“No. You’re tethering to share what you have with him, not the other way around. This type of rune, it was created to tether a god's power to their mortal lover. It’s why your Shadowhunters don’t know about it, it’s why Floki didn’t mention it when he was offering you ways to become immortal, because one of the pair needed to be a god, or God Spawn for it to work.” Aphrodite explains, shrugging her shoulders. “Runic magic is the oldest _controlled_ magic in existence, it channels the primordial magic that has existed since before even us. It’s tricky.”

“None of that was in the book.”

“No, it wouldn’t have been. If you decide to go through with this, eventually it will tether even your thoughts, the only way you’ll be able to keep your minds separate is if you create magical barriers. Eventually, you’ll stop being able to tell, mentally, where you end, and he begins.” Freya cautions him, “It’s driven gods mad before, Alexander, so you need to be aware of this.”

“Yes, though the Psyche rune will help separate your mind from his, allow you to have the privacy everyone needs every now and again.” Aphrodite says, before she takes Alec’s hand into her own, and draws a rune he doesn’t recognize onto his palm, it’s like the psi symbol but with a snake curling around the centre line. “Memorize that.” She tells him, as he suddenly feels like his mind has _unlocked,_ feels the overwhelming urge to sort _everything,_ all his thoughts, all his memories, but he pushes the urge away, focuses on the rune on his hand until he’s sure he can draw it in his sleep. Then he nods at Aphrodite and she smiles, swipes her finger over the golden rune, and it vanishes, but he can feel it burning a comforting warmth behind his ear. “Draw one for Magnus when you get the chance, he should start organising his thoughts _before_ you tether.”

“Okay.” Alec replies, already beginning to order his mind in a way he never thought possible. “The book didn’t actually… well it didn’t actually show the rune or describe what it looked like?”

“No, because a Shadowhunter could get their hands on the book and run around wreaking havoc if they ever drew it on themselves or others. It found its way into the world somehow, though, just not quiet accurately enough to cause us problems. Close, but not quite.” Hel tells him, a dagger suddenly appearing in her hand, Alec watches as she carves a symbol into the table. When she’s finished, she leans down and breathes over the carving, and it turns itself golden. Alec stares at the carving, searing it into his mind even as he’s trying to figure out why it looks so familiar, and then it hits him.

“This is yin and yang.” He says, tracing his fingers over the carving, it’s not the traditional yin and yang, the centre of the circle is a tree, the branches are golden in the yang side, and the roots are shaped by the golden yin. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yes, it is. Remember, that you are tethering all of yourself to him. You are tethering your strengths as well as your weaknesses, you are tethering his strengths as well as his weaknesses. Together, you will make each other stronger. Together, you will make each other weaker, such is the nature of love.” Freya says, before holding out what looks like an intricately carved stake to him. He frowns at her as he takes it, noting how the stick glows a soft blue-gold. “You will need this to carve the rune, and believe me it _is carving,_ it will hurt, and there will be blood and tears, so do that in private, and you must get the rune _exact_. The stake will guide you as much as you will allow it, do not fight it.”

“That’s the price, right? For the tethering?” Alec asks, rolling the stick in his hands, Freya nods.

“Yes, exactly, there must always be a price, and for this type of magic, the price is blood. Now, I think it’s time for you to go back.” She says, smiling at him.

“Yes, and let’s not meet here again for a long time.” Hel tells him, sternly, he smiles and nods his head.

“I’ll try, can’t make any promises.” He tells her, laughing when she scowls at him, the next thing he knows, the blackness is swallowing him.

* * *

He wakes up gasping, his chest feels like it's on fire, and he feels incredibly light headed, feels like his lungs have closed over, and someone has stabbed him in the heart. Something is clutched in one of his hands, so he uses the other to claw at his chest, at the burning rune over his heart. Gentle hands grab his hand, hold it still, he let’s go of whatever it is he’s holding to try and use that hand instead, but that’s grabbed and held, too.

“Just breathe.” A very, very familiar voice says, and he wants to obey it, but he can’t. “Why did you let him do this?” the voice growls, seemingly to someone who is not Alec.

“As I told him, I’m not responsible for his stupid life decisions.” Yet another familiar voice says, and Alec tries to focus on them both as they argue, but he can’t quite get over the burning, but eventually his breathing does become easier, and the burning eases away to nothing.

“There you go.” Magnus tells him, pressing gentle kisses to his face. “There you go.”

“What happened?”

“You _killed_ yourself!” Magnus exclaims, shaking him. “Why?”

“I had to speak to them, to make sure the rune would work, and it’s a good thing I did, Magnus. Because we wouldn’t be able to do it, otherwise.” Alec says, sitting up, he feels something land in his lap, and looks down to find the stake, he smiles and picks it up, rolling it in his hands. “I know what the rune is, and it will work for us, Magnus.”

“Okay. Fine, I’m still angry, but I’m glad you’re okay. And that you had a reason for scaring the _hell out of me!”_

“I didn’t mean to, I was going to tell you when I came back, how did you find out, anyway?”

“Well, your _parabatai_ called, wanted to know when the ritual would be over, and he kind of freaked out when I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about. One thing led to another, and here we are.” Magnus says, shrugging his shoulders, that’s when Alec notes that the left shoulder of Magnus’ jacket is ripped, and his hair is smouldering a little.

“Did you and Floki have a fight?” he asks, sighing.

“Yes.” Magnus replies, unashamed. “You’re damn right we had a fight. Stop encouraging my fiancé to do stupid shit!” Magnus snaps at the other Warlock.

“Look, he’s _your_ responsibility. Stop letting him out of your sight if you don’t want him to be a reckless idiot! He’s a Shadowhunter, or was, at any rate. They have death wishes upon death wishes upon death wishes, it’s _refreshing and_ _exhausting._ It reminds me of Ragnar. _”_ Floki replies, grinning. “And, as I’ve said already, his stupid choices are _not my responsibility_.” Alec notes that Floki doesn’t look any worse for wear.

“Whatever.” Magnus hisses, glaring at the other Warlock, Alec pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Can we just go home and argue about this later? There’s so much I have to tell you.”

“Fine. But we _are_ arguing about this later!” Magnus tells him, pulling him up and through a portal, Alec goes along with the manhandling, waving to Floki as he’s pulled through.

“That wasn’t rude at all.” Alec says, putting the stake down on the dining table and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Don’t.” Magnus states, his voice hard.

“Fine, I won’t. I can give you a thousand excuses, Magnus, but the truth of the matter is that I needed answers, I needed confirmation from people who intimately understand the magic we’re going to be putting our hopes on. I got it, they showed me the rune, and they told what was needed, and they told me how it would work. There’s another rune I have to give you before we go ahead, and we have to change the wedding plans, because we can’t put the rune on during the ceremony.”

“Why not?” Magnus asks, preparing himself a martini.

“Because we have to carve it into our skin with that stake.” Alec says, pointing to the offending item. “The price for the tethering is a blood sacrifice. Blood and pain.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh. Best do that in private, don’t you think? Additionally, they said the rune will tether us together so completely over time that our thoughts will merge. That eventually we might not even be able to tell where my thoughts end, and yours begin, so they gave me a Psyche rune, to help us organize our minds so we can build defences, that’ll allow us to have privacy when that time comes. They said without that protection, we might be driven mad.” Alec explains, watches as Magnus pauses for just a moment, before he’s back to shaking up his drink.

“Okay, so are we doing the tethering rune before the wedding or after?” Magnus asks, pouring out his drink.

“I don’t know, you pick.”

“I think we should do it before, that way we know that no matter what happens, we’ll be here together until the end.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Alec says, smiling, tension leaving him. “Also, if we ever adopt children, Aphrodite and Freya have already claimed godparent status.”

“What?”

“Oh, yeah, they were there, and I’d rather not get into a fight with them about it, so, can we just agree that our kids will have actual gods as godparents?”

“Far be it from me to tell a god no.” Magnus replies, making a face. “Our kids are going to be so spoiled.” He laments, Alec laughs.

“You think we wouldn’t have spoiled them on our own? Look at Raphael!”

“Good point.” Magnus says, with a heavy sigh. “Please never do that to me again. I know you’re immortal, that you’re here until all life ends but I don’t think I’ll ever get over seeing you dead before me.”

“I promise. I’m sorry.” Ale says, crossing the room to pull Magnus into his arms. “I won’t do it again.”

“Thank you.”


End file.
